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3.92 AVERAGE
3.92 AVERAGE
informative
reflective
medium-paced
Plot or Character Driven:
N/A
Strong character development:
Yes
Loveable characters:
Yes
Diverse cast of characters:
N/A
Flaws of characters a main focus:
N/A
First of all this book is vastly entertaining, clever and funny. I don't really see how some claim this book would have been better as a short story, other than that they probably don't really care for social structure, society and gender differences in the first place. I quite liked how the first part of the book was all about presenting the matriarchy and society of the book, and the conscious awakening of Petronius, and the second part concentrates on the men's liberation group and how their ideas and demands are ridiculed and undermined by the (female) oppressors who claims that things are how they are because of biology and nature and all that ludicrous bullshit women unfortunately are so used to hearing.
All in all this is a book everyone should read, if not to at least get some insight on our own society. I don't understand why this book is not taught in schools (at least not in Norway, I had never heard of it until a few months ago, which is an unforgivable shame).
All in all this is a book everyone should read, if not to at least get some insight on our own society. I don't understand why this book is not taught in schools (at least not in Norway, I had never heard of it until a few months ago, which is an unforgivable shame).
I went through eight years of feminist, women-empowering education and I cannot believe Egalia's Daughters was not an assigned work during any of it. The inversion of patriarchy to matriarchy is tipped so perfectly, so expertly, so thoroughly, that, even though I consider myself informed of women's past and present struggles, I'm still shocked, horrified, and repulsed at what the maculists go through. It's also fascinating how Brantenberg uses the inversion not only to highlight women's struggles, but also to suggest ways women's lot might be improved (ex: the pregnancy benefits).
My only quibble with an otherwise brilliantly necessary read is I wish it was even more intersectional. While LGBT, LGBT relationships, class, and, to some extent, ability are discussed, race is not really a factor in Egalia. I understand that the original primary audience was 1970s Norway, though, and I am completely unaware of the race situation then.
Overall, this book seems like a Godsend. I personally recommend it to every human being on the planet and will now be carting around my copy to all my friends and family.
My only quibble with an otherwise brilliantly necessary read is I wish it was even more intersectional. While LGBT, LGBT relationships, class, and, to some extent, ability are discussed, race is not really a factor in Egalia. I understand that the original primary audience was 1970s Norway, though, and I am completely unaware of the race situation then.
Overall, this book seems like a Godsend. I personally recommend it to every human being on the planet and will now be carting around my copy to all my friends and family.
Min första smak på mer "vardagsnära" alternativa universum-berättelser. Egalias döttrar byter vår världs könsroller och utforskar hur ett sådant samhälle skulle se ut, t ex gällande vård för gravida, relationer och att växa ur sin barndom. Den har naturligtvis åldrats, men fortfarande tänkvärd. Rekommenderad läsning!
During my Psychology studies, the gender seminars offered were by far my favorite elective courses, and I took a fair amount of them. This book has been on my radar since a girl I held a presentation with in one of them recommended it to me—I'm convinced I never would've heard of it otherwise. From the get-go, it sounded intriguing, but something I'd have to be in the right mood for, so it ended up sitting on my to-be-read-list for five years, and on my shelf for two. The mood for feminist lit usually strikes me around International Women's Day, and this year this is the one I ended up picking off the shelf.
As the subtitle suggests, this is a thought-provoking, satirical, and feminist take on a gender-bent "utopia": In matriarchal Egalia, the female/woman (fele/wom) is the "norm", while the male/man (mafele/manwom) is the subjugated sex. What was remarkable about it wasn't so much the plot itself, but how it played with the language, turning any word or phrase with a gendered tinge to it on its head. The gender-swapped vocabulary makes for an awkward, challenging reading experience, but it's integral to the book, and the best way Brantenberg could've chosen to highlight her point: How much inherent bias is present in our culture and language; any language—remember, this was written in Norwegian. It worked in the English translation I read. I speak fluent Italian and German, and that would work perfectly well, too. All over the world, language is centered around men, because men define the world.
But cultural aspects were inverted as well: Manwim are the ones who must groom themselves fastidiously and wear an uncomfortable and expensive penis bra (peho) to hold it up and make it more aesthetically appealing to the fele gaze. Manwim's sexuality is also seen as one and the same with reproduction (while wim are perfectly capable of attaining sexual pleasure without the danger of impregnation), which is why they are the ones who must take the pill; they are the ones who must care for the children; inheritance passes down the fele line—anything else is unthinkable. While wim are rough, career-driven, and dominant in every aspect of their lives, menwim are the nurturing gender who must care for the family (when one is lucky enough to be offered fatherhood-protection by a wom). A Manwom is routinely subjected to sexist talk, cat-calling, a constant belittling of his opinion (when he even gets a word into a conversation), and sexual violence.
In the beginning, it's kind of amusing. But as you keep reading, you realize just how chilling it all really is. Mind you, it's very extreme in the stereotypes that are turned upside-down—gender norms we associate with the 1950s that we've thankfully somewhat left behind us—but I find that to be effective, a satire should be extreme to successfully mock and ridicule the status-quo. Viewed in its historical context, the plot about the masculist movement is also an interesting take on the women's lib movement of the 60s-70s. Being a satire, it doesn't offer a solution to the question of inequality, and it doesn't posit that a matriarchy would be better than the patriarchy we live in: It simply raises a mirror to society and makes you wonder why we accept things the way they are, and I promise that it'll provide the reader an at least small moment of revelation.
The writing itself is a bit choppy. I'm not sure if this was due to the translation, but I don't think so; there were sudden shifts in time that you found out about at some point from context, and the transitions in the narrative often just weren't very smooth. I also appreciate well-done satires, but I find them more punching as short stories or novellas; that's personal preference though. Parts of it (plot details, but also the tone it's written in) are definitely a little dated, although the underlying ideas and main criticisms (unfortunately) still apply today. For these reasons, I was torn between a three and four star rating, but I've decided to round up despite its flaws—it gets you to really think about the language we use, and the cultural traditions and "gender characteristics" we accept as the norm, all while pointing out how ridiculous some of these beliefs really are in a very tongue-in-cheek manner that will undoubtedly make an impression on the reader. Egalias's Daughters is meant to make you laugh while making you angry; it did those things for me, so it deserves the higher rating.
As the subtitle suggests, this is a thought-provoking, satirical, and feminist take on a gender-bent "utopia": In matriarchal Egalia, the female/woman (fele/wom) is the "norm", while the male/man (mafele/manwom) is the subjugated sex. What was remarkable about it wasn't so much the plot itself, but how it played with the language, turning any word or phrase with a gendered tinge to it on its head. The gender-swapped vocabulary makes for an awkward, challenging reading experience, but it's integral to the book, and the best way Brantenberg could've chosen to highlight her point: How much inherent bias is present in our culture and language; any language—remember, this was written in Norwegian. It worked in the English translation I read. I speak fluent Italian and German, and that would work perfectly well, too. All over the world, language is centered around men, because men define the world.
But cultural aspects were inverted as well: Manwim are the ones who must groom themselves fastidiously and wear an uncomfortable and expensive penis bra (peho) to hold it up and make it more aesthetically appealing to the fele gaze. Manwim's sexuality is also seen as one and the same with reproduction (while wim are perfectly capable of attaining sexual pleasure without the danger of impregnation), which is why they are the ones who must take the pill; they are the ones who must care for the children; inheritance passes down the fele line—anything else is unthinkable. While wim are rough, career-driven, and dominant in every aspect of their lives, menwim are the nurturing gender who must care for the family (when one is lucky enough to be offered fatherhood-protection by a wom). A Manwom is routinely subjected to sexist talk, cat-calling, a constant belittling of his opinion (when he even gets a word into a conversation), and sexual violence.
In the beginning, it's kind of amusing. But as you keep reading, you realize just how chilling it all really is. Mind you, it's very extreme in the stereotypes that are turned upside-down—gender norms we associate with the 1950s that we've thankfully somewhat left behind us—but I find that to be effective, a satire should be extreme to successfully mock and ridicule the status-quo. Viewed in its historical context, the plot about the masculist movement is also an interesting take on the women's lib movement of the 60s-70s. Being a satire, it doesn't offer a solution to the question of inequality, and it doesn't posit that a matriarchy would be better than the patriarchy we live in: It simply raises a mirror to society and makes you wonder why we accept things the way they are, and I promise that it'll provide the reader an at least small moment of revelation.
The writing itself is a bit choppy. I'm not sure if this was due to the translation, but I don't think so; there were sudden shifts in time that you found out about at some point from context, and the transitions in the narrative often just weren't very smooth. I also appreciate well-done satires, but I find them more punching as short stories or novellas; that's personal preference though. Parts of it (plot details, but also the tone it's written in) are definitely a little dated, although the underlying ideas and main criticisms (unfortunately) still apply today. For these reasons, I was torn between a three and four star rating, but I've decided to round up despite its flaws—it gets you to really think about the language we use, and the cultural traditions and "gender characteristics" we accept as the norm, all while pointing out how ridiculous some of these beliefs really are in a very tongue-in-cheek manner that will undoubtedly make an impression on the reader. Egalias's Daughters is meant to make you laugh while making you angry; it did those things for me, so it deserves the higher rating.
dark
reflective
medium-paced
My mom, a second-wave feminist, had this book laying around the house. I picked it up and had a lot of good laughs over it. Egalia's Daughters is set in a world where women hold the power. As such, many elements of the world that we take for granted are subverted here.
Women are called wim (wom for the individual), while men are called menwim (menwom for the individual). Men have to wear a kind of penis bra that holds their genitals up to make them seem more appealing to women. Men are expected to grow long beards and groom them fastidiously. Beards need to be clean, shiny, and men are expected to make them prettier with flowers or clips.
Women are dominant at work, at school and sexually. It is not uncommon for a boy's first sexual experience to be with an aggressive older girl who gets drunk and takes advantage of them. Of course, boys are elated that they got that older girl's attention and think that the aforementioned sexual violence just shows how attractive the girl finds them.
And so on. As the title says, this book is a satire. It's not meant to provide with any solutions or to argue that a world where women held the power would be inherently better. It will make you question your beliefs about what is sexist, what is traditional, what we accept as the way things are, and why. It would make great required reading for sex ed classes.
Women are called wim (wom for the individual), while men are called menwim (menwom for the individual). Men have to wear a kind of penis bra that holds their genitals up to make them seem more appealing to women. Men are expected to grow long beards and groom them fastidiously. Beards need to be clean, shiny, and men are expected to make them prettier with flowers or clips.
Women are dominant at work, at school and sexually. It is not uncommon for a boy's first sexual experience to be with an aggressive older girl who gets drunk and takes advantage of them. Of course, boys are elated that they got that older girl's attention and think that the aforementioned sexual violence just shows how attractive the girl finds them.
And so on. As the title says, this book is a satire. It's not meant to provide with any solutions or to argue that a world where women held the power would be inherently better. It will make you question your beliefs about what is sexist, what is traditional, what we accept as the way things are, and why. It would make great required reading for sex ed classes.
challenging
dark
emotional
informative
inspiring
reflective
fast-paced
Plot or Character Driven:
Character
Strong character development:
Yes
Loveable characters:
Complicated
Diverse cast of characters:
No
Flaws of characters a main focus:
Complicated
As a satire, it's wasn't subtle, using the most extreme cases as characters and reading a bit like a high-school assignment. Story-wise it jumps around too much and the readers don't really feel invested in the characters.
What it does most effectively is show appalling casual discrimination, or micro-agressions, masked as prevailing opinion. The readers have a total distaste for characters like Ba, whose broadly-stereotyped behavior should (and hopefully) would be questioned by an average society.
The book not life-changing, or, even, for the most part, perspective-changing, but I was interested in reading it because of the recent discussion around Megalia, the South Korean feminist group. And if it inspires feminists in a country ranked 116 for gender equality by the World Economic Forum, I'll take it.
What it does most effectively is show appalling casual discrimination, or micro-agressions, masked as prevailing opinion. The readers have a total distaste for characters like Ba, whose broadly-stereotyped behavior should (and hopefully) would be questioned by an average society.
The book not life-changing, or, even, for the most part, perspective-changing, but I was interested in reading it because of the recent discussion around Megalia, the South Korean feminist group. And if it inspires feminists in a country ranked 116 for gender equality by the World Economic Forum, I'll take it.
One of my all time favorite feminist reads in a world where a Matriarchal Society rules with an iron fist. The language is based around “woms” and “menwoms”. The book focuses on the rise of the Menwoms Liberation movement, including the burning of the “pehose” contraptions that menwoms are pressured to wear to showcase their penises. Though written in the 70’s, still relevant today.